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After 16 years at the helm, Carlos Ghosn is standing down as CEO of Nissan, handing over to 63-year old Hiroto Saikawa.

Ghosn, also 63, is hardly taking early retirement, however. He retains the chairmanship at Nissan, as well as at newly-acquired Mitsubishi, He will continue as CEO of Renault and will remain chairman and CEO of the alliance between the three companies.

Who is Carlos Ghosn?

Born in Brazil, of Lebanese descent, and with French citizenship, Carlos Ghosn spent the first 18 years of his career at Michelin tyres, moving to Renault in 1996 and becoming CEO of Nissan in 2001.

His reorganization of these two car manufacturers led to him being affectionately dubbed “Le Cost Killer”. He is widely credited with having engineered a comeback for Nissan after years of losses and debt.

Who is Hiroto SAIKAWA?

Hiroto Saikawa joined Nissan in 1977, immediately after graduating from university. Specialsing in procurement, he rose within the ranks to become Chief Competitive Officer in 2013, and co-CEO three years’ later.

Speaking of the decision to hand the role of CEO to Saikawa, Ghosn said: “There’s a moment when you have to pass the baton to someone else. I’ve always said I would love to have a Japanese person to be my successor and Saikawa-san is somebody I have been grooming for many years.”

Nissan’s future

Nissan is the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer, with global sales of more than 275,000 all-electric vehicles as of mid-December 2016.

It is expected that, by concentrating on the alliance, Ghosn will seek out economies of scale in this fast-growing market, whilst also concentrating on raising the profitability of Mitsubishi after the “mileage-fixing scandal:“http://www.euronews.com/2016/10/20/nissan-rescues-mitsubishi-after-mileage-fixing-scandal”.